Arsene Wenger insists Santi Cazorla could yet play again this season but revealed his frustration at the latest injury setback for the midfielder he describes as the “star of the team”.
Cazorla has not featured for Arsenal since October after limping out of a Champions League group stage game against Ludogortes Razgrad with an Achilles injury.
The 32-year-old underwent ankle surgery two months later in a bid to cure the problem and later a skin graft taken from his arm but he has not been able to resume training as the injury has been slow to heal.
Wenger said: “It’s a special problem on his calf. At the moment, the only thing I can say because I have not seen him in training, not even in fitness work, is that he’ll be short.
“It is possible [he could play again this season] but [it depends] how he heals from his scar, and once that is done he can practise very quickly and very normally but at the moment that is not done.
“When you think that when a player starts to train after such a long time out, you have at least six weeks to be competitive for a place in the team. If you add six weeks today, we are already at mid-April so that means it will be short for him now.
“It is very frustrating for us because at the start of the season, he was maybe the star of the team. Overall it is a big loss for us but I am especially sad for him, for a guy who loves football, when football is so natural, he suffers a lot not to be on the pitch.”
